Door and step



Oct. 6, 1936, w. H. MussEY ET AL DOOR AND STEP Filed March 26, 1934 l t e e h s S t e e h S 70 Oct. 6, 1936. w. H. MUSSEY ET AL 2,056,226

DOOR AND STEP Filed March 26, 1954 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 "llll rd aunnirggfiam Oct. 6, 1936. w. H. MUSSEY ET AL DOOR AND S TEP ZZZ;

II: v 67 MGM Patented Oct. 6, 1936 UNITED STATES PATET OFFICE DOOR- AND STEP Application March 26, 1934, Serial No. 717,423

11 Claims.

This invention relates to cars, particularly streamline railway cars, and. has for its principal object to provide a step that will be projected into operative position beyond the surface of the car whenever the door is opened and will be retracted and held retracted upon closing the door.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear as the description is read in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. l is an inside elevation of a fragment of the car, including the door, the step, and the operating mechanism;

Fig. 2 is a vertical section taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a horizontal section taken on the line 33 of Fig. 1; I

Fig. 4 is an oblique section taken on the line 4--4 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is a horizontal transverse section taken on the line 55 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 6 is a vertical section taken on the line 66 of Fig. 5;

Figs. 7 and 8 are vertical sections taken on the lines l--'! and 88 respectively of Fig. 1.

But these drawings and the specific description that follows should be taken for the purpose of illustration only and not to impose limitations on the claims.

The car body is indicated (Figs. 1, 2 and 3) by fragment it! having a doorway defined by the lintel II, posts I2 and I3 (Fig. 3), and a threshold or door sill l4 (Fig. 2). The door I5, when closed, fits against the inside of the jambs I6, I! and lintel l8, as best shown in Figs. 2 and 3. In opening, the door moves inwardly and rearwardly, or to the right in Fig. 3, to a position alongside the wall of the car.

To facilitate this movement, brackets l9 are 40 fixed to the lower margin of the door at the inside, and receive casters 20, running on tracks 2| and 22, (Fig. 3) which incline inwardly and rearwardly, blend into curves, and then become parallel close together and alongside the wall of the car. Near the top, on the inside, the door is fitted with other brackets 23, bearing split stems 24, running in guides 25 carried by a bracket 26 fixed to the lintel H, and the inner wall of the car over it. By means of this arrangement the door can be readily shifted from the closed position in Fig. 3 to an open position rearwardly and just inside the wall of the car, and back again With ease.

The door is held in closed position by four bolts 21, sliding in guide brackets 28 on the inside near the corners and adapted to enter openings in the (1001' posts I2 and I3, fitted with flanged wear plates 29 and 30.

The four bolts 21 are operated in unison by a hand lever 3i (Fig. 2) on a shaft 32 mounted in a bracket 33 and bearing two arms 34, pivoted to the adjacent curved end portions of links 35, the remote curved end portions of which are pivoted to the respective long arms 36 of levers pivoted at 31 to brackets 38, and having two short arms 39, pivoted to the adjacent respective curved ends of links 40, connected with the bolts 21.

Rotating the hand lever 3! to the left in Fig. 1 will retract all the four bolts 21, and rotating in the other direction will extend them and bolt the door fast to the posts l2 and I3. I

The joint between the door and the jambs IS, IT, I8, should be sealed with appropriate weather stripping 4i.

The tracks 2| and 22 extend across the threshold M on to a metal plate 42 overlying the composition fiooring 43.

A step 44 is pivoted below the door in a pocket 45 that receives it flush with the contour of the car when in retracted position. Generally speaking, the step is a flat box with the intermediate portion of the inner side wall deflected against the outer wall, as best shown in Fig. 4, to leave, in effect, two upright ribs 46 reeni'orced by bars 41 and pierced to receive pivot pins 48 extending into bearings 49 fixed to the adjacent ribs 5i! of the car shell.

As will be seen from Fig. 8, the step becomes a lever fulcrumed on the pins 48, and in use its inner end 5E rests against the upper wall 52 of the pocket 45 and is sustained by the channel bar 53 extending between the ribs 50. The outer and longer arm of the step in operative position projects away from the wall of the car and is fitted with a roughened tread 54.

In order to insure that the step will be retracted and held retracted while the car is traveling, bolting the door fast is made to retract the step and lock it in that position. To accomplish this, the lower left bolt 21 (Fig. 6) is given a wedge-shaped end 55 adapted to bear on a roller 56 mounted in a carriage 51 threaded to the upper end of a rod 58 (Fig. 6), the lower end of which is pivoted to an arm 59, fixed to one end of a shaft 60, journaled in brackets GI, and hearing a longer arm 62, pivoted to the upper end of a link 63, the lower end of which is pivoted to a bracket 64, on the step 44 above the pivot pins 48. From Figs. 6 and 8, it will be seen that moving the bolt 21 to locked position will operate through the links and levers to throw the step to closed position and hold it there.

The carriage 51 is held within the door post I 2 and guided by an angular plate 65, which forms a track for two rollers 66 journaled in the carriage. The brackets 6! are carried by the upper wall of the pocket 45 near the top.

Upon retracting the bolts 2'1, the door is free to be moved to open position and the step is released and should fall to projected operative position, but means are provided to force it to that position as the door is opened.

To accomplish this, the bottom of the door at the inside is provided with a striker 61, adapted to bear on the inclined face 68 of a trigger 69, pivoted at 10 to the threshold l4, and at H to the upper end of a link 12 having its lower end pivoted to an arm 13 of a lever loosely journaled on the shaft 60 and having a longer arm 14 pivoted to the upper end of a link 15, the lower end of which is pivoted to the lower end of the step at 16.

From this it will be clear that moving the door inwardly will cause the trigger 69 to set in motion the parts described and throw the step from the solid line position in Figs. 7 and 8 to the dotted line, or operative position, shown in those figures, where it will remain by gravity until positively retracted when the door is bolted.

Although the invention has been shown applied to the door and step of a baggage car, it will be understood that slight modifications will adapt it for use in passenger cars.

We claim as our invention- 1. In a car having a doorway, a door movable between open and closed position, means to bolt the door in closed position, a retractable step, means operated with bolting of the door to retract the step.

2. In a car having a doorway, a door movable between open and closed position, means to bolt the door in closed position, a retractable step, means operated with bolting of the door to retract the step, means operated by movement of the door towards open position to project the step.

3. In a car having a doorway, a door, a bolt for the door, a retractable step, means operated by the bolt in moving to the locked position to retract the step.

4. In a car having a doorway, a door, a retractable step, means operated by opening movement of the door to project the step to operative position and means operable by a single movement to bolt the door and retract the step.-

5. A car having a doorway, a door, a retractable step, operating means in one position bolting the door and holding the step retracted, and in another position releasing the door and the step.

6. A car having a doorway, a door, a retractable step, operating means in one position bolting the door and holding the step retracted, and in another position releasing the door and the step, and means operated by the door to positively project the step.

'7. A car having a doorway, a door opening inwardly, rollers supporting the door at the bottom, 2. trackway for the rollers, a retractable step, means to project the step to operative position, and a striker on the door for operating that means.

8. In a car having a doorway, a door for said doorway, means for causing said door to move both longitudinally and transversely of the car on opening and closing the same, a retractable step, mechanism for operating said step, and means for operating said mechanism when said door is moved transversely to said vehicle.

9. In a car having a doorway, a sliding door for said doorway, a retractable step beneath said doorway, a compressible weather strip for said door, and means including a latch for simultaneously locking said door compressing said weather strip and moving said step to inoperative position.

10. In a car having a doorway with a door jarnb at each side thereof, a movable door for said doorway, a retractable step, and means for moving said step to inoperative position, said means locking said door in closed position, and clamping said door against said jambs.

11. In a car having a doorway, a door for the doorway, a retractable step, mechanism for elevating said step and for holding the same in elevated position, means for releasing said mechanism for permitting said step to fall by gravity to its lowered position, and means operated by the opening of said door for positively forcing said step to lowered position.

RICHARD CUNNINGHAM. WILLIAM H. MUSSEY. 

